More than 19 000 signatures for pro-life doctor delivered to SA High Commission in Kenya

The international platform CitizenGO this week delivered more than 19 000 signatures from African citizens, concerned about the fate of South African Doctor Jacques De Vos, who has been suspended for the past two years for his pro-life stance, and who faces an unprofessional conduct hearing convened by the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) next month.

The signatures were delivered by CitizenGO’s campaign director for Africa, Ann Kioko, to Thembela Ngculu of the SA High Commission in Kenya, at his office in Nairobi.

Ngculu said he would bring up the matter with his government, but he added “they could not do so much to help the doctor from the charges he is facing”, reports HazteOir.org

The HPCSA will decide on De Vos’s fate after a six bench hearing next week following his expulsion from the medical profession, accused of giving pro-life advice to a patient that wanted an abortion.

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The inquiry was supposed to begin in August but was initially postponed until October 3 and 4 at the Newlands Southern Sun Hotel in Cape Town October 2019 but the hearing date has subsequently been changed to October 28 to 30. Prior to the postponement, the prosecution agreed to provide documents required by the defence which they have been requesting since 2017.

Ann Kioko, who had launched the online signature-gathering petition supporting De Vos, lamented that “Dr De Vos was effectively barred from practising medicine in South Africa for the past two years despite numerous efforts by Dr De Vos and his legal team to have him reinstated and allegations dropped”.

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